New Orleans Woman Plants a Tree as a Memorial, City Government Digs It Up After Complaints
A woman in the New Orleans area wanted to plant a tree along a bayou as a memorial to someone she lost. It was planted at Blue Bridge after she got permission from the city's Parks and Parkways department, and it was watered regularly and covered in memorial photos.
But an adjacent neighborhood was apparently not happy with the placement of the tree and asked for it to be removed.
The issue was brought to light on social media when a post appeared on the r/neworleans subreddit, condemning the actions taken against the tree.
According to the post, the complaints came from the nearby neighborhood because they "see the bayou as part of their backyard," despite it being public land. They reached out to city councilman Joe Giarrusso, who apparently got the city to remove the tree.
Several of the complaints were captured via screenshots of the neighborhood's community on the social media network NextDoor, though the identities of everyone other than the city councilman have been redacted.
The city came and dug up the tree, which led the woman who originally had the tree planted to respond and explain the situation that had unfolded.
The online pushback questions why the nearby neighborhood can dictate what gets planted on public land. "I saw the usual complainers airing their grievances about this tree on Nextdoor after it was planted," one Redditor said. "Figured this would happen. At least it wasn’t cut down and fed into a chipper."
Others questioned the city's priorities. "How is it we can find people to remove a tree but not to aim redlights toward the lane they control, or fix streetlights, or pick up garbage," another commenter asked.
